Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Mad Hatter Bakeshop and Cafe

While you're out doing all of your holiday celebrating, light watching, and shopping, you might need a little refreshment. So, we thought we'd bring you this report about The Mad Hatter.

What it is: The Mad Hatter is a delicious little bakery and cafe right next door to Duke's East Campus and under a mile from other great kids stops like Playhouse Toys, The Regulator Bookshop, Blue Corn Cafe, or Elmo's Diner. When you first walk in you can see a display of delicious little cookies and brownies that are perfect for a quick sweet treat or snack. Around the corner you can find delicious cakes and cupcakes which can be made to order for anyone. If you're in the mood for a little more food you can also order delicious breakfasts, lunches, or brunches with items like sandwiches, wraps, salads, and much more.

On my most recent stop, we were just in the market for a sweet treat to bolster us in the middle of some marathon errand running. The cheesecake brownie that we found was heavy, sweet, and completely decadent-perfect for mommy and delicious for my son as well. We've also ordered custom order birthday cakes from them in the past and they have been delicious as well. We haven't sampled the mealtime fare? Has anyone sampled it?

What we liked: We love the pastries! Every sweet thing that we have tried from The Mad Hatter has been delicious!

What we would change: We tried to sit down to enjoy our cheesecake brownie after we purchased it, but seating was on a first come first serve basis and there was no room. We were there at about 11 on a weekday and the seats were full of people working on computers either by themselves or in groups. That is probably a result of it's proximity to Duke. I would imagine it would be really crowded on a weekend morning. Has anyone checked it out then? Maybe the time to go would be when students are out for holidays and the summer.

2 comments:

Mmmmm....LOVE their pancakes. They say "silver dollar" or some such thing but you get about 9 of them and they aren't all that small. Easy to split with kids. ;) I've never had a problem getting a table there but it's always been around 9:30 or 10 after preschool drop-off.Their hot chocolate is not too shabby either.

I have been for breakfast and lunch. Everything is delicious. Not sure if they still do this but you used to get a cupcake, icing bag and decorations with the kids meals. Worth it just to decorate a cupcake in my book! (oh and I definitely ordered this prekids for myself) I'm not sure if I have ever been and it not been crowded though...